|
post-autistic
economics review |
|
issue 22
contents
PAE
Review index
home page |
|
Joan Robinson
and the Post-Autistic Economics Movement Antonio Garrido (Madrid,
Spain) © Copyright 20003 Antonio Garrido
1.
The purpose of studying economics is not to
acquire a set of ready made answers to economic questions, but to avoid being
deceived by economists. (1951-1980, vol. II, p. 17) 2.
It is often said that one theory can be driven
out only by another; the neoclassicals have a
complete theory (thought I maintain that it is nothing but a circular
argument) and we need a better theory to supplant them. I do not agree. I
think any other “complete theory” would be only another box of tricks. What
we need is a different habit of mind - to eschew fudging, to respect facts
and to admit ignorance of what we do not know. (1951-1980, vol. V, p. 119) 3.
The victory of Keynes’ theory over the
orthodoxy of sound finance was not due to his superior logic but to the
pressure of the events in the world. Perhaps we shall finally owe the defeat
of neoclassical complacency to the public indignation at the devastating
accidents which highly profitable technology is always bringing about. (1980,
p. 119) 4.
Economic reasoning alone cannot offer a
solution for any economic problem, for all involve political, social and
human considerations that can not be reduced to “the lore of nicely
calculated less and more”. The object to an introduction to analysis should
be, not to propound solutions, but to suggest to the reader what he must take
into account in trying to make up his own mind about the issues presented to
him by the age in which he lives. (1973, p. 293) 5.
I believe, however, that there is a lot of
difference between good analysis and bad, apart from ideological tendences. Logic is the same for every one (though I
could never get Professor Samuelson to admit it) and the reading of evidence,
though always biassed to some extent, can be more
or less faire...........Honesty and hard work are required of radicals, while
the orthodox can doze over their dogmas. (1951-1980, vol. V, p. 118-119) 6.
The professional economist keeps up a smoke
screen of “theorems”, and “laws” and “pay-offs” that prevent questions such
as that (why the USA keeps an appreciable proportion of its population in perpetual ignorance
and misery) from being asked . This situation is, I think, inevitable. In
every country, educated institutions in general, and universities in
particular, are supported directly or indirectly by the established
authorities and whether in Chicago or in Moscow, their first duty is to save
their pupils from contact with dangerous thoughts. (1951-1980, vol. V, p. 98) 7.
The task of deciding how resources should be
allocated is not fulfilled by the market but by the great corporations who
are in charge of the finance for development.These
questions involve the whole political and social system of the capitalist
world; theycan not be decided by economic theory,
but it would be decent, at least, if the economists admitted that they do not
have an answer to them. (1951-1980, vol. V, p. 30-31) 8.
Private enterprise is wonderfully flexible in
jumping from one profitable market to another, but is very rigid in
resistance to social control. . . . There is no point in thinking of what we
really want, such as abolishing poverty and restoring peace. All we can ask
for is what they choose to give us. We must keep the show going or else they
won’t give us anything at all. (1951-198, vol. V, p. 129) 9.
The student of economic theory is taught to
write O= f(L,C) where L is a quantity of labour, C
a quantity of capital and O a rate of output of commodities. He is instructed
to assume all workers alike, and to measure L in man-hours of labour; he is
told something about the index-number problem involved in choosing a unit of
output; and then he is hurried up to the next question, in the hope that he
will forget to ask in what units C is measured. Before ever he does ask, he
has become a professor, and so sloppy habits of thought are handed on from
one generation to the next. (1978, p. 76) 10.
A generation well educated, resistant to
fudging, imbued with the humility and the pride of a genuine scientist could
make contributions both to knowledge and to the conduct of affairs that no
one need be ashamed of. (1951-1980, vol. III, p. 6). References: Works by Joan Robinson |